S1 #10 Tigran Sloyan
How To Mitigate Biases When Recruiting for Early Engineering Teams - Insights From Tigran Sloyan of CodeSignal.
On its 'about' page, CodeSignal says it's "on a mission to discover and develop the skills that will shape the future." And that shone through strongly in the conversation I had with its founder and CEO, Tigran Sloyan.
Fun fact, Tigran and I go way back to before he started CodeSognal when he was still at Google.
I remember Tigran telling me about CodeSignal as he was getting ready to move on from Google. I remember thinking that the idea and the intent was definitely solid. I have been watching Tigran and CodeSignal's rise over the years and I was excited to bring him on to talk about recruiting, resumes, and revitalizing the lost art of people-matching.
The interview was an absolute delight - Tigran recounted his journey from Armenia to MIT, which is where I found out that he represented Armenia at the International Math Olympiad from 2003 to 2007! A quick google search tells me he won two silver and two bronze medals for Armenia (Archived) during that time!
But, surprise! Tigran told me during the conversation that when he was in early middle school, he barely got passing grades in most subjects, including math! How does a kid who gets barely-passing grades in math end up at the International Math Olympiad?
(But that's a story for Tigran to tell, which he does brilliantly during the episode - do check it out!
Anyway, I was more interested to hear his thoughts about the challenges of recruiting for early engineering teams. And so, we spoke at length on various aspects of the subject, ranging from the issue of biases in the interview process to how founders can mitigate them to build strong engineering teams.
I'll admit, it was VERY surprising to hear Tigran acknowledge the presence of biases during hiring but what he said made complete sense. He said that our brains were wired to create shortcuts because it is an evolutionary trait designed to help us with quick decision-making. However, when it comes to recruiting, these biases can manifest in the form of snap-judgments based on resumes or initial impressions.
In the early stages of a startup, these biases can have a detrimental effect because they can lead to missed opportunities and the exclusion of potentially valuable candidates. And if diverse perspectives and adaptability are crucial for your startup's success, this can be particularly problematic!
So, how can founders mitigate their biases when recruiting for early engineering teams?
Tigran shared several valuable insights on this topic but I'll outline three insights that I found to be most impactful, down below:
Awareness is Key: The first step in mitigating biases is to be (painfully) aware of these biases. Simply recognizing that your snap judgment or instinct may have been heavily influenced by some pre-existing bias is the first step to actively said bias.
Education and Training: You need to educate yourself about the source of the bias and train yourself to consciously re-evaluate your judgment in the face of it. Founders and hiring managers need to understand the various forms of bias and their impact and MUST take proactive steps to mitigate them, all the time!
Measuring Skills Directly: Resumes are terrible in terms of the signal they provide and often are poor indicators of a candidate's true skill. So, Tigran suggests that founders directly measure candidates' skills using alternative methods such as skills-assessments, technical challenges, or work samples. These, he insists, would provide a more accurate representation of a candidate's abilities.
Tigran also touched upon the role of technology in mitigating biases in hiring. He pointed to his own platform, CodeSignal, as one such tool that could assess candidates beyond traditional resumes and evaluate them based on their actual skills. In fact, he narrated a short anecdote about how and why CodeSignal actually came into existence - something you can (and should) hear for yourself on the podcast episode.
All said and done, I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Tigran! If you are a startup founder, I insist that you definitely listen to the entire episode. I have absolutely no doubts that it will undoubtedly resonate with founders and hiring managers navigating the challenges of building early engineering teams!
Speaking of which, if you are looking to build an early engineering team or know someone who is, drop me a message via Twitter or LinkedIn!
About Us:
1st10 was founded on the simple philosophy that there is nothing more important to the success of your startup than the first ten engineers you hire. Because the first ten will impact the next ten and any wrong misstep can be the difference between success and failure. 1st10 works with visionary founders and exceptional engineers to build world class engineering teams.
1st10 was founded by Boris Epstein, original founder of Binc, the firm best known for pioneering embedded recruiting in Silicon Valley. Binc built early teams for Pinterest, Ripple, Stripe, Square, Airbnb, Reddit, Tesla and many more. Binc was acquired by Robinhood in 2021.